Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, we have binding 2020 targets, which require us to act. My Department is critically involved with those targets. I have given information to the House before - in fact, earlier in my contribution this morning - on this. They are very exacting targets and they require an enormous amount of work. That work is continuing. It is not a question of there not being targets. There are targets.

The Deputy must appreciate that I do not have seisin of this particular piece of legislation; my colleague, the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, does. I would not assume, as the Deputy appears to, that the national expert advisory council would lack independence. I have given an indication of the intended make-up of the body. I do not see any basis for the Deputy to assume in advance that there would be any difficulty with that council, but in the course of the debate on the legislation, the Deputy will be able to bring forward any concerns he has about that council, because I agree that it should be a fully effective body, which should assist the Minister and the Oireachtas in this critically important area.

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